Natural Storyteller

Georgiana Keable

Description

Georgiana Keable introduces us to a staggering wealth of world stories all about nature and our role as humans in it. These are traditional stories that have stood the test of time. They often speak of something universal or enduring about our experience and relationship with nature. Culturally diverse and all told with great energy and panache, the stories will engage young readers and encourage them to become natural storytellers. The book includes several storymaps to help the reader think visually about stories as well as other ways to remember the different stages that make up each tale. The author also reflects on the heart of each tale, what it's about, and whether there is a way the reader can turn their own experience into a story. Each section has a practical activity that can be undertaken individually or as a group. The author's message is clear: the resources needed for Natural Storytelling are abundantly around us - nature and our imagination.

Sujets

• Sciences et techniques
• Natural history

Informations

• Publié par: Hawthorn Press
• Date de parution: 02 décembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781912480234
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

The Natural Storyteller is testament to the grace, mystery and joy that have always animated our human relationships with the earth and its abundant expressions of life. This is, after all, the most natural way for people to be, and be well. The stories in Georgiana Keable’s brilliantly chosen collection welcome us back into that special space and place, in which hearts, minds and spirits know we truly belong.’
Dr Donald Smith, Director of the Scottish Storytelling Centre
‘To protect our planet, in this hour of chronic need, we have to completely re-imagine our relationship with the natural world and all its wondrous diversity. Storytelling plays a crucial part in that healing process, especially (but not only!) for young people, as Georgiana Keable so beautifully and powerfully reveals in The Natural Storyteller .’
Jonathon Porritt CBE, Forum for the Future
‘On a cold winter’s night last December, I was pulled hesitantly onto a stage, before I found myself running out into the world through Georgiana’s storytelling. My companions, world-leading climate scientists, swiftly followed. There is something so wonderfully comforting about listening to a story – a pleasure that many of us have forgotten since our youth. Comforting and challenging – stories have so much to say to us, if we would but listen. In an increasingly fragmented world, suffering the impacts of climate change, stories bridge divides and bring us back together. Let Georgiana’s stories open your eyes and ears once more. Let Georgiana’s inspiration become your inspiration piece. Now more than ever, we all need to become storytellers. In Georgiana’s words, “See the story and it will live through you and your body – naturally.” A glorious anthology that grounds our feet in the roots of the earth and opens our hearts to each other.’
Professor Ros Cornforth, meteorologist and Director of The Walker Insitute for Climate System Research
‘A life of dedication to nature, storytelling and young people courses through the pages of The Natural Storyteller . It is written with intimacy, information and chock full of good stories and creative reflective activities. It is a wonderful and needed resource for children in today’s world.’
Laura Simms, storyteller and author
‘I think The Natural Storyteller is a brilliant book for young people, but it doesn’t end there. Anyone interested in storytelling as an art form, but doesn’t know how to get started, would find this an excellent place to begin. I can very much recommend it for anyone starting down the Bard path, and anyone interested in finding emotionally sustainable approaches to activism. It’s an uplifting read that will leave you with a sense of possibility and optimism — something I think we could all do with right now.’
Nimue Brown, Spiral Nature Magazine
The Natural Storyteller is a gorgeous heart-warming book full of stories that children (and people any age!) can relate to. It is a collection of stories, carefully gathered over a period of years, from all over the world. What steals my heart about this book is that it unflinchingly addresses the turmoil and realities of life in the 21st century. The author does not shy away from tackling themes such as deforestation, war or corporate greed. This book is that rare thing: it unlocks emotions, ideas and a wild surge of creativity.
Imelda Almqvist, Paganpages
‘Storytelling is one of those things that I struggle with but also see how powerful it can be in engaging kids and adults. Your book has really opened my eyes and given me the confidence to get out there and do it!
Mark Lloyd, Forest School teacher
The Natural Storyteller
Wildlife Tales for Telling
Georgiana Keable
The Natural Storyteller © 2017 Georgiana Keable
Georgiana Keable is hereby identified as the author of this work in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, 1988. She asserts and gives notice of her moral right under this Act.

Published by Hawthorn Press, Hawthorn House, 1 Lansdown Lane, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 1BJ, UK Tel: [phone]            Email: [e-mail] www.hawthornpress.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means (electronic or mechanical, through reprography, digital transmission, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher.
Cover image © Shirin Adl Cover and book design by Lucy Guenot Typeset in Scala and Jacqueline Storymaps by Georgiana Keable Printed by Henry Ling Ltd, The Dorset Press, UK 2017, 2019
Every effort has been made to trace the ownership of all copyrighted material. If any omission has been made, please bring this to the publisher’s attention so that proper acknowledgement may be given in future editions.
The views expressed in this book are not necessarily those of the publisher.
Printed on environmentally friendly chlorine-free paper sourced from renewable forest stock.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data applied for
ISBN 978-1-907359-80-4 eISBN 978-1-912480-23-4
To my favourite storytellers – Mum and Dad
Contents
Introduction
Story Heart The Story of Tasoo (Q UECHUA , P ERU ) Wangari and the Green Belt (K ENYA ) The Pedlar of Swaffham (E NGLAND ) Li Chi and Laixi (C HINA ) Johnny Appleseed (N ORTH A MERICA ) Create a Story Map from Nature
Story Mind Brian, Who Was Useless at Storytelling (I RELAND ) The Perfect Pot (I NDIA ) Robin Hood (E NGLAND ) The Rubbish Girl (N ORWAY ) Minding the Way (A BORIGINAL A USTRALIA ) Make Your Own Songline
Story Tree The Bundle of Sticks (G REECE ) St Peter and the Oak Tree (N ORWAY ) All in the Family (W ORLD ) The Birch Tree (R USSIA ) Hodja (T URKEY /A FGHANISTAN /I RAN ) The Tun Tree (N ORWAY ) How to Plant or Adopt Your Own Tun Tree
Story Animal The Medicine Bear (S ÁPMI ) Hodja and His Donkey (T URKEY ) The Ark (B IBLE ) Kikko (E NGLAND ) King of the Deer (I NDIA ) Tracking Wildlife
Story Bird The Puffin (N ORWAY ) The Blind Little Sister (W EST A FRICA ) Francis of Assisi (I TALY ) Best Friends (E NGLAND ) The Hoopoe’s Story (I RAN ) The Bashak (I RAQ ) Home for a Bird Family
Story Earth Ear to the Ground (S ÁPMI ) The Rat Princess (D ENMARK ) Dirty Earth (I NDIA ) The Story of Earth (W ORLD ) My Land (A FGHANISTAN ) Roots Make Flowers (T AMIL , S OUTH I NDIA ) Earth Story-Making
Story Water Salmon Boy (F IRST N ATION , C ANADA ) The Flood (J EWISH ) King Fish in the Sea (S WITZERLAND /N ORWAY ) Living Water (T OFALAR , R USSIA ) Dolphin Friends (A USTRALIA ) The River (R OMANI ) Cleaning the River
Story Weather The Wind and the Sun (G REECE /A FGHANISTAN ) Gluscabi and the Wind Eagle (A BENAKI , N ORTH A MERICA ) Harvesting the Sky (C ANADA ) Snow (G ERMANY ) Rain Magic (W ORLD ) Sun Magic (W ORLD ) Wind Magic (W ORLD ) Rain (Z IMBABWE ) Make a Sky Story
The First Party The First Party (I NUIT , G REENLAND ) Make a Story Party
Afterword
Story Sources
Using the Story
About the Author

Introduction

The Natural Storyteller – Is You!
This book is like a packet full of seeds. When you open the book and read a story seed, you plant it in yourself. The more you water this story seed the bigger it will grow. You may find yourself growing into a Natural Storyteller .
Maybe you don’t want to tell stories. That’s totally fine! Just enjoy the book. However, here are some reasons why you might consider being a storyteller:

1. You can wear a cloak.
2. When you are stranded on Mars, or in a lift that got stuck and you have no mobile phone or book, you can still enjoy loads of stories in your mind.
3. Your life is your own story. Telling stories can give you clues about how you want your story to grow. You will be able to explain all kinds of things in an interesting story kind of way.
4. Stories can be medicine. And being a storyteller can be true fun.
What kind of stories are in this book?
Here you will find myths, legends and fairytales. You will find tales of real life. You will find histories of people who were seriously brave. You will find stories of talented sparrows, enchanted trees and superhuman deer.
Every story in this seed-packet-book is about that outlandish-beyond-astounding-and-staggering stuff we call nature. That weird and incredible more-than-human world.
These stories come from peoples all over the world who live close to each other and to nature. People who see that nature’s wild beings are often great travellers. A cuckoo flies from England way over the Sahara Desert to Africa and a salmon swims from America to the Arctic. And the stories themselves have travelled, without passports, flying over many borders to land in this book.
Adventure stories
In Norway, where I live, the word for ‘story’ is the same as the word for ‘adventure’. This book is about having adventures. As you read it you may find your family gets bigger, you may become a tracker for wild cousins, you may discover you have relatives with extremely long roots and you might get the urge to go on a quest to save a squirrel. I’m not promising anything but you never know.

Story Heart

If the world was utterly jolly and happy all the time there would be no stories and it might be rather a boring place to live. However, there are lots of quests, disasters and excitements to keep us awake and on our toes. Heroes and heroines who are navigating dangerous waters need a good heart. That is usually more important to them than big muscles, a hairy chest or frilly clothes. They need to be brave and think with their heart.
Where do daring heroines and heroes keep their Story Heart ? Same place as you keep your heart – in a cage, your ribcage, which protects it as it beats every moment of every day. Maybe you feel it – ´Dunk, dunk, dunk!’
This first chapter starts with a riddle:

You talk to me, but I have no words ,
You sing to me, but I play no music ,
You love me, though I am a strang